Culture

Bullitt Center Officially the Greenest. The Bullitt Center set out with the vision to promote urban sustainability in Cascadia--our regional corner in the Northwest United States and Southwest Canada. And according to Curbed Seattle, it has officially achieved such status.

The Makers is a new column on Seattlemag.com that explores different Seattle creatives and their crafts. These artists live to design, connect and create.
Pedram Shokri may be inspired by high fashion and streetwear culture, but when he and his friends Max Anderson and Tom Ly launched Spilled, a company that creates custom flooring featuring streetwear-influenced designs, he said it all started out of necessity.

Big moves: Online travel company Expedia is packing up its Bellevue headquarters and relocating to Seattle's waterfront in the space formerly occupied by Amgen Helix. The official announcement came at a press conference this morning with Mayor Ed Murray.

It's officially spring and whether it's raining or not, our wardrobes are begging for an overhaul. As the layers shed and the down-jackets disappear, it's only natural that a new crop of threads will make their way to the front of our closets. To help us rid the gray and welcome the sun, some local shops and designers are hosting events around town, while others are popping up fresh to the scene. Whether it be frocks or footwear, these local happenings are giving us ample opportunity to ensure we move into spring with our best foot forward.

Hold the phone (seriously, hold your phone): Google has transformed its Maps app into the classic arcade game Pac-Man to celebrate April Fools’ Day! The app lets you navigate any city streets while frantically gobbling up pac-dots and dodging those irritating, squiggly-bottomed ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde.

It’s one of Seattle’s most sparkling gems—which many of us forget about unless we’re looking for cool places to take out-of-towners. But the Washington Park Arboretum offers an oasis of calm amid our high-tech, crane-laden, traffic-choked city, and this time of year serves as a spectacular display of blooming rhododendrons, azaleas and other spring stunners.

On the heels of Indiana's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which many say supports discrimination against gays and lesbians, several businesses and high-profile leaders around the country are speaking out and taking action.

Aside from the pink flamingos flanking the walkway, there’s nothing particularly telltale about the exterior of the studio where one of Seattle’s musical masterminds works his mad science. But just over the threshold, visitors are plunged into the inimitable world of Trimpin, the sound artist, composer, instrument inventor and MacArthur genius who goes by his last name only.

You probably see them all over. Bands of tents set down in a wooded area, flashes of blue tarp dangling from a freeway overpass, or clusters of cardboard wrestled into shapes that will provide some kind of shelter. They’re small, ad hoc camps of homeless people, and their numbers are growing. This year’s One Night Count conducted by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness found 3,722 people across the county without a roof over their heads; 2,813 of those were in Seattle. That number, counted in just three hours on January 23, is up 21 percent from last year.

Ethan Stowell Returns Downtown. Five years after Seattle restaurateur Ethan Stowell left the downtown-core, he is back with a new restaurant set to open this May. The new spot will open inside the Four Seasons Hotel on First and Union, taking the place of Art Restaurant and Lounge, The Puget Sound Business Journal said. This incidentally is directly across the street from where his old restaurant, Union, used to be.

Seattle choreographer Donald Byrd has been artistic director of Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater since 2002. Before that, he was a revered contemporary dance director in New York City, perhaps best known for choreographing The Harlem Nutcracker and the Broadway musical version of The Color Purple (for which he earned a Tony nomination).

After the cluster that was Seattle traffic last night--all from a semitruck carrying a load of salmon that overturned on SR 99--drivers are preparing for more potential traffic nightmares this weekend. Starting Friday, March 27, road closures are set to happen all throughout the city, including portions of Interstate 90, SR 99 and the Alaskan Way Viaduct. See the WSDOT website for up-to-the-minute information on the closures.

Must Geek OutEmerald City Comicon Takes Over(3/27 to 3/29) If you weren't able to secure tickets to the annual cavalcade of comics fans, never fear, you can still witness the dazzling array of far-out costumes when passing anywhere near the Washington State Convention Center. Here, we take an insider's look at the high-energy, highly animated fest.